All posts tagged ‘Gifts’

When I was a kid, most of the ribbon we used to wrap presents was curling ribbon. It often looks a bit like corduroy, it’s plastic-y, and comes in many different colors. It’s cheap. Perhaps it was more widely used in the past, because I don’t see it used too often anymore.

We always helped my mom wrap presents that weren’t for us. After we’d help her wrap the presents with paper, we’d move on to the ribbon. There was always ribbon. She’d run the ribbon around the gift, first one way, then the other, making a special 90 degree turn on the bottom of the present. Then on top, she’d tie a knot. She always needed our help with the knot. She’d tie the first half, then our finger would be required. We’d press down on the half knot as hard as our little fingers could manage. She’d then tie the second half, carefully tightening it around the tip of our finger, which we had to keep in place as long as possible, so the ribbon would be taut. The bow would come next, but we always were waiting for the curling.

The curling was always special for me, since it made the ribbons look like my hair. Piles and piles of curls. We’d often add more lengths of ribbon to make the pile of curls larger.

But what makes the ribbon curl? Scientific American took on the subject a few years ago for Valentine’s Day. They determined that it had to do with how different parts of the ribbon stretched as you curled it. And what’s the best way to curl the ribbon? “Be firm but slow” when you run it over the edge of the scissors or other sharp-ish object you use. This is apparently the assessment of the experts. But everyone has their own method. Check out the article for more details.

Last-minute shopping for the Hobbit geek on your list? Try The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles: Art & Design, which includes this spread of Thorin’s Map (Image: Weta Workshop and Harper Design/HarperCollins)

If you’ve run out of steam shopping for the Tolkien nerds on your gift list — and you don’t mind having your gift arrive a tad late and wrapping up an IOU and sticking it under the tree–may we suggest these savvy, Hobbit-themed gifts:

This sumptuously illustrated book, a collaboration between Weta Workshop and Harper Design/HarperCollins, includes peeks into the design of the first of The Hobbit movies, with over 1,000 color and black-and-white conceptual drawings and paintings, plus images from the set designs, sculptures, and photographs.

You’ll see drawings by artists John Howe and Alan Lee, as well as others who worked at the special effects house Weta Workshop. From detailed sketches of Bag End to designs for bearded female dwarves, this is the ultimate insiders guide to the world of art behind The Hobbit.

Or your own “One Ring,” made from gold-plated tungsten carbide (but without Elvish runes engraving) will run you $99.00. If the Tolkien nerd in your family must have “The Contract of Bilbo Baggins,” this “prop replica” can had for $449.00. Or, fans might dig an” exact replica of the scarf worn by Gandalf the Grey.” This “Magical Scarf of Gandalf the Grey” ($99.00) was created by Stansborough, the New Zealand weavers who made the original item for the costume department.

Hobbit Feet Socks

3. Hobbit Feet Socks. $11.99.

Made from cotton, nylon, and elasthane, these smart-looking socks over at ThinkGeek have individual toes and a design on the top that resembles the famous hairy hobbit feet.

Epic Beards from The Hobbit T-shirt

4. Epic Beards from The Hobbit T-shirt. $19.99 – $21.99

Wear all 15 of the beards of The Company at once with this lovely T-shirt. The image shows the mighty facial hair styles of all 13 dwarves, Gandalf and Bilbo (who we all know is actually beardless).

Over at ThinkGeek are a few other cool Hobbit gift ideas, from hairy-footed hobbit slippers to mini plush dolls.

5. The Art of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull. $40.00.

Tolkien geeks often complain: How dare Jackson deign to visualize such a rich literary work, when images conjured in the reader’s mind are more powerful than any CGI brain candy? And yet, as The Art of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien proves, Tolkien himself aimed to visualize much of his Middle-earth. A not-too-shabby artist, Tolkien made hundreds of drawings and paintings while writing The Hobbit. Some were planning doodles; some were more polished; and others were intended for publication. More than 100 of these are collected in this lavishly illustrated tome. Painstakingly reproduced here are pencil sketches of Bilbo’s crib, Bag End, Rivendell, Mirkwood, and Smaug, as well as Tolkien’s wonderful maps and runes.

Works in The Art of the Hobbit By J.R.R. Tolkien show the author’s view of Middle-earth. (Image: J.R.R. TOLKIEN COPYRIGHT TRUST)

For those interested in rereading The Hobbit with a more expanded consciousness — no, I don’t mean pipeweed — try Corey Olsen’s Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Olsen directs a center to further Tolkien studies, the Mythgard Institute, and runs a podcast called the “The Tolkien Professor.”His book is a chapter-by-chapter, erudite discussion of the major ideas stitched into this deceptively simple children’s book.

8. The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide to a Long and Happy Life by Noble Smith. $22.99

We already interviewed Noble Smith about his clever hobbit-as-self-help book The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide to a Long and Happy Life. Mixing literary themes and character studies from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and sprinkling in anecdotes from his own experience, Noble delves into Middle-earth to show us how Tolkien can instruct us how to live a better life on Regular-earth. Chapters like “Your Own Personal Gollum” discuss how to defeat those who have a “great hole of want” and “suck the souls right out of our bodies.” Notes help the less hard-core visitor to Middle-earth grasp all of the author’s references.

Look around your house. What do you see? If you’re a geek, you likely see a lot of books, games, gadgets, and Lego. Those people out there who aren’t geeks have a different selection of items in their house. Everyone tends to prioritize different kinds of things, and it’s fun to compare notes.

This especially holds true during the holiday gift giving season. What’s on your wish list? What are you buying your kids, friends, and family? Board games and crafts are high on my list this year, both for giving and for wishing.

Here is a list of item categories I’ve noticed have been a priority in my family’s life for, well, ever?

Most of these are a no-brainer to geeks, but it really got me thinking. The tangible things we prioritize in our lives help define us, especially to ourselves, since we spend our time interacting with them.

What items that I didn’t cover are on your list? Which typically geeky items do you not prioritize? Which non-geeky items are important to you? Our differences make us interesting, and give us excellent conversation starters. The Venn diagrams of people’s geeky interests never cease to fascinate me.

We have looked at many gifts for the holiday season over the past few weeks here at GeekDad. From gadgets to games to clothes, we have shown some of the coolest goodies that are available on the market. Well here are a few more gift ideas that will delight the gray matter in your head. That’s right, educational – but fun – gifts for the intellects and those who would like to become intellects. Gifts from Marbles: The Brain Store.

For all those out there who thought that Rubik’s Cube was child’s play, meet the brain cube. I was given one of these as a gift earlier this year and I can honestly say, it is just as much a conversation piece as it is a puzzle. The object of this puzzle is basically the same as its colorful counterpart, except for one caveat – you have to match the folds of the brain to the corresponding sections. Also, it is squishy, just like the real thing! Continue Reading “Giveaway – Smart Gifts from Marbles: The Brain Store” »

Just in time for Halo 4 and Call of Duty:Black Ops II, take a look what I received in the mail to check out!

From the box:

Introducing the GameMaxx Hydrating Game Controller voted “Largest Gaming Device” by the National Gaming Convention in 2011. Video game lovers will be stumped when they receive a giant, over-sized controller that includes a 5 amp adjustable speed fan with mister, 24″ flexible drink tube to hold the refreshment of their choice, neck strap mounts and many other features.

I know. Half of you reading this are like “Where can I get one of these, right now!” and the other half are like “What the heck?” – right?

That is the hope: for reaction from the gag box creators over at Prank Pack. The GameMaxx controller box is their newest addition in time for the holiday season. Be sure to pick a few up to scare parents and prank your obnoxious gamer friends.

As life goes forward, the only direction it tends to move, you start to change your perspective on the world around you. Specifically, you start to change your perspective in the house around you as your kids get older (and more annoying). Being an active father is not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination, but at the same time it’s not difficult either. Basically it encompasses being involved and raising your children to the best of your ability. Sometimes it means suppressing what little sanity you have left.

A couple years ago I wrote a tender post, an introspective on the life of a father. While most of that holds true, I think there are some real truths that I might have missed and for all means and purposes – it was way too sappy. Yes, Father’s Day is just as much about the children as it is about you and, yes, it means spending time with them and your own father and so on. But there are some very simple things that I ask for every Father’s Day because, let’s be honest, it’s not Mother’s Day and the fact that they haven’t smothered me in my sleep is gift enough.

Now that I have a teenager and a pre-teen and a female child under the age of seven, Father’s Day is a much different event. Two out of three children don’t care (and I don’t demand that they do) and the other one does what she can to wear me out running around the living room. Oh wait, that’s pretty much every afternoon after work.

Yet, while I would generally prefer to keep Father’s Day a non-event, they have made it their mission to pester me until I give them a plan for the day. And while I’ve also outlined that in the past, my plan has changed a bit. I’ve scrapped the plan, I just have demands. So here are my five simple demands for this years Father’s Day.

Birthdays seem to get ever harder to buy for as people get older. Ironically it’s the people I know the best that I have the biggest mental blocks for. My brother is particularly difficult as he basically has most things he wants already.

Growing up he was a big Disney fan and filled his room with all sorts of paraphernalia. Although I was never that into Disney myself, it did mean he was easy to buy presents for. That is, until he grew up — I can’t quite bring myself to buy him a Mickey Mouse key-chain anymore, although he actually says he wouldn’t mind one.

This year I hit gold though. Having been more than a little impressed with Epic Mickey‘s open world game-play and gorgeously original animated cut scenes I was on the look out for a bargain second hand copy.

A quick search online and I discovered that Amazon was having a clearance sale. This may well be due to the low review scores Epic Mickey got (72 on Metacritic), something I never quite understood. Or perhaps, and more excitingly, the fact that Disney has a PS3 Move version coming soon.

Either way, I’d soon found a copy for $19.99. I was just about to check out but then I noticed that for just a few dollars more I could get him the super deluxe collector’s version (down from $69.99 to $24.99). All to the good.

My downfall, however, was spotting the Epic Mickey Remote Charger (down from $49 to $24) and the Paintbrush Nun-chuck ($19) just as I was checking out. They not only look great but also solve his second Nun-chuck problem for visitors.

It wasn’t until they arrived that I realized I’d overdone the presents somewhat. Not to worry, though, as snapping up the bargains means I now have my brotherly present conundrum sorted for Christmas as well. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t read GeekDad, but I guess I’ll found out now if he does.

If you’re a regular reader of GeekDad, you know that we love ThinkGeek. Their selection of geeky products is second to none, their customer service is friendly and helpful, and they’ve gone out of their way to support geeky artists and musicians. And we knew they were generous people, but we didn’t know just how generous until now — not that we’re in any way surprised.

It seems that a 27-year-old man named Kevin Pratt-King (nicknamed “Wash”) was diagnosed a couple of years ago with a rare form of cancer that kills 99% of its victims within three years. Wash and his wife Tashi are both hard-core geeks and loved to leaf through the ThinkGeek catalog, but their situation made them unable to afford anything from it. Tashi wrote about this, and about the many hardships they’ve endured due to Wash’s illness, on her blog.

Somehow, probably via Twitter, the folks at ThinkGeek found out about the Pratt-Kings’ situation and decided to help them out in a way they were uniquely able to, by sending the couple a ton of awesomely geeky gifts, for themselves and their cats (they don’t have children). Suddenly, two geeks who had been forced by circumstances beyond their control to give up most of the trappings of Christmas had presents to give each other, with a few left over to give to people important to them.

In case you doubted Tashi was a geek...

And the ThinkGeek folks did this without any expectation of publicity, not even writing about it on their blog or Twitter feed. Heck, we’re in contact with several ThinkGeek-ers on a fairly regular basis, and we didn’t know anything about it until we saw a piece on Consumerist about the story.

So, major kudos to all of our friends at ThinkGeek! You did good. (And yes, that is the correct word choice in this case.)

It’s down to the wire — and you still have shopping left? Well, if the people you have left to buy for are into geek culture (like you, since you’re reading this) then we are here to help. Here are a few last minute suggestions that you can still purchase and have in time to give for Christmas Day.

Not games that use boiling water. Steam is a digital distribution platform developed by Valve Corporation. It is used to distribute games online, from small independent developers to larger software houses. Games can be purchased and sent to friends and loved ones from some of the best gaming companies including: Bethesda Softworks, Activision, Rockstar Games, Square Enix, 2K Games, Telltale Games and Electronic Arts. Best of all, they are also having a huge sale right now!

If you are after some last minute gift ideas for that geeky toddler in your life, you should check out Nerdy Baby.

Nerdy Baby is what resulted when technical and corporate communications professional Tiffany Ard had a baby and suddenly realized how “stupid” the whole scenario of her working life was. So, now Tiffany works for herself. She draws pictures of microscopes and laws of planetary motion, she creates art and gifts for infants that are all about microbiology and chemistry. She sells what she produces at Nerdy Baby.